College Football!

I have never been a very big football fan...
I preferred shopping on football saturdays!
But, this year.. I have tried to get more into it and learn more about it.
I think having a little boy and knowing that he will probably soon want to play
football makes me want to know it and understand better!
Anyway.. Chad is a diehard Bama fan and although I have never really
been that into football, my family is Auburn fans.
I have always cared more about what was going on with Auburn than
I have Bama even though I didn't follow either of them.
Chad and I are both graduates of JSU and even so...
I don't think I've been to more than one or two games!

They had a playoff game last Saturday and we took
the kids to watch. It was a first for both of them.

We enjoyed the game and had a good time just spending a saturday together!

Molly was excited to get to walk to the tunnel and see the players and Cocky!

Surprisingly, Duke wasn't REAL interested.
He tried b/c he knew Chad enjoys it so much,
but for now.. it's just not really his thing!
Molly and I enjoyed the halftime show with the band and the ballerina's!

(She pretty much stayed in my lap unless she was sitting on the stairs
in the isle completely in the way!)

Chad and I agreed... we would like to go to another game.
But, no matter the team... the kids may need to stay home
for another couple of years or at least until they will actually
sit in THEIR seats and watch the game! ha!

oUr 1sT cHrIsTmAs.....

This Christmas is our first Christmas in our new house!

(I didn't mean to skip Thanksgiving but I didn't take any pics!)
We have been so in love with the house and of course, since we moved into the house in Oct... I couldn't wait to decorate for Christmas!
I had been wanting to do a before and after post with the pics of the house and just haven't gotten around to it so I may do that later, but for now I am going to post pics of the Christmas decor that we have going!
(and again, my pics are really small.... uuuuggghhh. They are coming from my phone so I'm sure that's why, but I don't know how to fix it!)
As you walk up... this is the front door.

I don't have a lot of room there but I squeezed in as much as I could! ha!
Of course Chad had a comment about how much I have going here!
Oh well...haha!

Once you come into the house through the foyer, you are in the living room.
This is a view of the living room from the breakfast area.

Close up of the tree.

Close up of the mantle.

I am in love with my mantle this year! Again..
Chad had something to say about the garland on the mantle
b/c it covers up the cable box! Oops!

I did my stairs w/o checking the lights the garland and once I was all finished,
I plugged in the garland... and go figure... the lights didn't work!

That's my fault though for not checking them before I did all of that!

The only trees upstairs are Duke and Molly's trees.

Molly's is pink, of course! She and I love pink!

This is Duke's tree.

It's cuter in person! This is the 3rd year that we have done the cowboy decor on his tree...

I have a feeling we will have to go to the sports decor next year.
For some reason, the cowboy just seems so little boy to me!
But, he is turning seven this Dec. so it may be time to make it more big boy next year.

Those are our decorations this Christmas 2010!
There is a lot more that I want, but I'm taking it a little at a time!
This year I made myself the new front door wreath and bought some new things
for the mantle, so maybe next year I can add some other things!
We haven't done anything in the dining room yet as far as a table or decor
so there is nothing in there to decorate.... yet!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!
May your holiday season be blessed!

LiTtLE mOnSteR mAsH.....

We had our First Annual Little Monster Mash this year!
It was hosted by Duke, Molly, and baby Jack Rush (aka... me and torie) :)
The kids invited a few of thier best friends over to enjoy some halloween treats and some monster mashing!



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We went ALL out!

We had a food table complete with a place setting for each little monster.
We made cake pops, cupcakes, ghostly pretzel rods, pumpkin marshmallows (thanks Crystal), mummy dogs (by Kelly, and several other super cute snacks!!

We made a bucket of goodies for each of the kids to take home as well!

We made a Halloween themed music CD for the kids to jam to, and that they did!

They ate and ate and ate some more with a little dancing in between.

And then we bobbed for apples. This was a first for most of them!

All in all.... it seemed like the kids really enjoyed themselves!
Duke thanked me during the party and wanted to know if this was ALL for them.

It made me feel good to surprise them and their friends.

Torie and I think it was a definite success and will probably begin
planning the 2nd Annual Little Monster Mash shortly! Ha!

Thank you Kelly and Crystal for bringing your little monsters over
and for your help with the food!

a queen and someone from star wars!

For Halloween this year, I took the kids to pick out their costumes and told them that they could choose to be whatever they wanted.
This is hard for me b/c I like to coordinate everything and have them be something cute that kind of goes together.
But, I didn't, I let them decide what they would be.


Molly chose what I believe to be a queen. We went into TJ Max and she found a costume that was a dress w/ a tiara to match. The dress was actually really pretty, but the reason Molly wanted it was b/c it was long and it had the hoop in the bottom which caused it to "flow" and twirl well. This was the determining factor!
She twirled around TJ Max w/ the dress twirling along w/ her.
I was a little worried about it, but of course it turned out beautiful and Molly looked perfect!

Duke chose to be a clone trooper or something from Star Wars. It was a pretty snazzy get up, complete with a gun! And again, it was perfect for Duke!

I joked with Chad by saying that we were "The Clampett's" (Beverly Hillbillies) b/c we had soooo many folks trick or treating with us! Ha!
Our gang included: Duke and Molly- the trick or treaters, and Chad, me, Nina, Papa, Nana, Pops, PawPaw Jerry, and a friend of his- the onlookers! Wow!
It was a good time as always and I thought several times throughout the night about how blessed my babies are to have soooo many grandparents in their lives
who care so much about them!

Thanks to everyone for sharing our Halloween night with us!
These are the times that we will always remember!

the gymnist!

Molly started gymnastics over the summer and she is loving it!

Right now she is going once per week for an hour and a half.
I am so glad that she is getting to do something that is just for her.



For a while, she had to sit on the sidelines and cheer for Duke as he played soccer and tee ball, and she never complained.




But, I see how much she enjoys her gymnastics and it makes me happy to see her doing something she enjoys.